My family (me, husband, 15 year old daughter and 14 year old son) will be attending a wedding in San Antonio in early August. We were thinking of taking the next week or so to hit some National Parks, etc on a road trip up to the Santa Fe/Albuquerque area then fly home. Should we plow straight through to Carlsbad/Guadaloupe area on the first day? or does anyone have recommendations on where to stop in between? We'd love any suggestions for what to do (or what to avoid) along the way in both TX and NM!! Thanks.
San Antonio to Santa Fe
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Do you intend to return the rental car where you rent it?
The drive across west Texas in August is long, hot and quite boring. Fly or take the Sunset Limited train to El Paso. Rent your car there to head to Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns. From the town of Carlsbad, head north to Roswell.
From Roswell head west to Capitan and see the Smokey Bear Historic Park. Continue west to I-25 north to Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
If you do decide to drive, you can cool off at the Caverns of Sonora just south of I-10. Your return to El Paso could include a side trip to see White Sands.
August in west Texas is miserably hot! The highs are usually well over 100, and it often doesn't even get below 80 at night. IMHO, that's not the best time to visit...
August ANYWHERE in Texas is miserably hot!!
For that matter, the non-mountain areas of New Mexico will be pretty hot as well.
That said, the Salinas Pueblo Missions sites southeast of Albuquerque are quite interesting to visit. http://www.nps.gov/sapu/index.htm
Well, it will be cool in Carlsbad Caverns, at any rate.
We drove from Albuquerque to San Antonio a few years ago, spending a night in Carlsbad on the way. It was sort of a long stretch from Carlsbad to San Antonio, but not too bad. It will definitely be hot, as others have said. Be sure to bring sunscreen, hats, and drink lots of water.
lee Ann
Thanks everyone! We were thinking a one-way rental - but maybe flying to El Paso and renting from there is the way to go.
Hi there! I have to interject and let you know about all the cool places in between San Antonio and Santa Fe. I am planning on taking this trip too in about three weeks.
While it will be hot, you should still consider visiting:
1) Big Bend National Park
2) Terlingua the ghost town
3) Cadillac ranch (only if you go North)
4) Highway 90 (beautiful drive! Take this instead of I-10 West)
5) El Cosmico
6) Marfa (and the Marfa lights - think there's a winery here too)
So yeah - check out all these places on Google. Big Bend would be great to take the kids on a hike. If you guys pack lots of water you can make it to the South Rim (elevation 8,000 feet) in a morning/afternoon day-hike. Just be sure to pack lots of water and food! Big Bend has plenty of cool spots. Be sure to also check out the Hot Springs! I hope you go through with your drive. This is one of my favorite places in the world!
Kristen
I live in the San Antonio area and just returned from a trip to West Texas. The only reason we went there was because it was closer than New Mexico. In August, there is no way in heck I would detour my trip from NM to go to Big Bend.
Marfa is a dot on a map and you can only see the lights late at night (if at all). It is a quaint Texas town but again, I wouldn't detour to see it. It's about 1 1/2 hours off of 10.
If you don't want your kids to hate you, fly to El Paso if you can.
It would help to give advice to know where you are coming from. Europe is a different case than Houston.